Hollow body outlet for under-floor and under-plaster installations

ABSTRACT

A hollow body for insertion into an outlet for under-floor and under-plaster installations, which includes a first and second clamping member having arranged therebetween clamping means which after insertion of the hollow body into the outlet can selectively be pressed into frictional engagement with the wall of the outlet.

United States Patent Traupe 1 Oct. 14, 1975 [54] HOLLOW BODY OUTLET FOR 3,318,476 5/1967 Clark 52 221 x UNDER FLOOR AND UNDER PL ASTER 3,326,404 6/1967 Gardner 220/24.5 3,667,640 6/1972 Morrow 220 24.5

INSTALLATIONS 3,747,541 7 1973 Reese 220 24.5 x

lnventor: Hans-Martin Traupe, Frinssenstr.

51, 2 Hamburg 55, Germany Filed: Nov. 14, 1973 Appl. No.: 415,793

Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 15, 1972 Germany 419477 US. Cl. 52/221; 52/20; 220/24.5 Int. Cl. E04B 5/48 Field of Search 52/577, 220, 221, 19, 20;

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Rudolph et a1. 220/3.6

Primary ExaminerFrank L. Abbott Assistant Examiner-Carl D. Friedman Attorney, Agent, or FirmWalter Becker [57] ABSTRACT A hollow body for insertion into an outlet for underfloor and under-plaster installations, which includes a first and second clamping member having arranged therebetween clamping means which after insertion of the hollow body into the outlet can selectively be pressed into frictional engagement with the wall of the outlet.

1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figures HOLLOW BODY OUTLET FOR UNDER-FLOOR AND UNDER-PLASTER INSTALLATIONS The present invention relates to an outlet for underfloor and under-plaster installation which is defined by a connection or a channel in hardened concrete or flooring material.

A heretofore known outlet consists of a pipe section which forms one piece with the upper wall or cover of the underfloor passage. Screwed onto said pipe section is another pipe section which has that end thereof that is remote from said passage closed by a stopper. The drawback of such an arrangement consists in that prior to pouring the concrete or the flooring material, the upper edge of said pipe sections has to be precisely placed at the level of the finished concrete or flooring material surface. Such an operation is time consuming.

For purposes of simplifying the installation of underplaster passages as well as for reducing the installation costs of such passage, it has furthermore become known to provide the outlets of the passages only after the concrete or flooring material covering up said passages has hardened. To this end, bores or openings are drilled into the concrete or flooring material and into the cover for the passage, and hollow bodies are then inserted into these bores which hollow bodies define the outlet for the passages and serve for receiving installation devices such as plugs or the like. The hollow bodies have their lower rim provided with books, links or plates which for purposes of connecting the hollow bodies engage or extend into the openings below the cover for the passages. These outlets have the drawback that special hollow bodies have to be made for each thickness of the respective concrete or flooring material. Furthermore, in view of the connecting plates or links which extend below the passage cover and are connected to the hollow bodies, only slight differences in dimensions in the thickness of the concrete or flooring material can be equalized. Finally, a safe connection of the hollow bodies to the passages covered by synthetic material is not possible in view of the plasticity of the synthetic material.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention so to design an outlet for underflooring and under-plaster installations that when employing such outlet with pipe connections provided on the passage cover, the leveling with regard to the concrete or flooring material surface will not be necessary prior to pouring the concrete or the flooring material, andthat when the outlet is employed with openings milled into the hardened concrete or flooring material and in passage coverings the safe connection of said outlet will be assured independently of the material for covering the passage or passages.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which: I

FIG. 1 illustrates a section through an outlet according to the invention which is inserted into a shaft or hole milled into the surface of the concrete or flooring material. 7

FIG. 2 represents a partial section throughthe outlet of FIG. 1, said section being taken along the line ll-ll of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates a section through a modified outlet according to the invention which is inserted into a tubular portion or pipe section which is molded onto the cover for the passage.

The outlet for the underfloor and under-plaster installation according to the present invention is characterized primarily in that a hollow body which is composed of two clamping elements adapted to be placed against each other and having arranged therebetween a multi-part or slotted clamping element, is inserted in the tubular connection or hole while the clamping element frictionally engages the wall of said tubular element or of said hole.

With the outlet according to the present invention it is no longer necessary that the upper edge of the tubular or pipe section screwed onto the connecting piece or tubular section of the cover for the passage be aligned with regard to the finished surface of the concrete or flooring material prior to the casting thereof. It is merely necessary that the upper edge of the tubular section or connection piece not protrude beyond the concrete surface or the surface of the flooring material. The leveling is effected with the hardened concrete or flooring material after the stopper with the hollow body has been removed which with its parts namely the clamping elements and the tightening element, is in serted into the connecting piece or tubular member. The upper edge of said hollow body can easily be aligned in the plane of the concrete or flooring surface because the clamping element and the tightening elements which form the hollow body permit within wide limits any desired position of the hollow body with regard to the connecting piece or tubular member. After the hollow body has been aligned, it is merely necessary for properly locating and securing the hollow body to press the two clamping elements against each other for instance by means of screws, whereby the tightening element is pressed apart and frictionally engages the inner wall of the connecting piece or tubular member.

The outlet according to the present invention may in the same manner as in the connecting piece or tubular member also be fastened in openings or holes in concrete or flooring material, which after hardening of the concrete or flooring material are milled into the same and the cover for the passage, and holds the advantage that it is insertable independently of the thickness of the concrete or flooring material. As the result thereof, its manufacturing and stock keeping costs are greatly reduced since for all customary thickness of the concrete or flooring material the same hollow body composed of clamping and tightening elements can be used. This point proved particularly valuable when with a finished underfloor installation it is later intended to provide outlets. Finally, the present invention also greatly facilitates the leveling of the upper edge of the hollow body with the concrete or surface because the connection thereof is effected independently of the position of the cover for the passage inasmuch as with the hollow body aligned, the clamping element is pressed against the concrete wall or the wall of the flooring material of the hole or shaft.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a fixture or attachment is kept on one of the clamping elements. In this way, the hollow body and thus the outlet can without difficulty be attached to any desired length.

Furthermore, it is advantageous to provide the clamping element pointing toward the surface of the concrete or flooring material, or the attachment at its upper edge with a flange which on the concrete surface or surface of the flooring material forms a support which makes the leveling of the hollow body unnecessary. Expediently, at least one of the clamping elements isprovided with extensions pointing into the interior of the outlet, said extension serving as connecting elements for installing devices or the like.

, It has also proved advantageous to make the tightening element of resilient material.

Furthermore, the tightening element may have an outer surface which is provided with protrusions or extensions whereby its adherence or connection to the connecting piece or tubular member or to the concrete wall or wall of the flooring material will be improved.

For purposes of facilitating the connection of the aligned hollow body, the tightening element has an arched or convex surface by means of which it engages the wall of the connecting member or hole or shaft.

With the tightening element composed of a plurality of sections which is particularly favorable with regard to the costs and the pre-assembly of the hollow body (i.e. the connecting of the clamping elements and the tightening element), the said sections are by means of an elastic thread or rubber band non-detachably held together between the clamping surfaces of the clamping elements so that said thread or rubber band forms a frame or ring.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, a cylindrical attachment 1 forming a blind cover extends into an opening or a hole or shaft 2 which has been milled into the concrete or flooring material 3 above a nonillustrated underfloor passage and into the cover therefor (FIGS. 1 and 2). The attachment which has its upper edge provided with a flange 4 which rests on the concrete or flooring material 3 or as the case may be rests on a floor cover. At the topside, the attachment is provided with a recess 5 into which a non-illustrated floor cover may be inserted.

For purposes of connecting the attachment 1 in the hole or shaft 2, it is screwed by installation means or screws 1a to extensions 6 which are distributed over the inner circumference of a clamping element 8. The clamping element 8 cooperates with a similarly designed clamping element 7 while the distance between these clamping elements may be assured by means of installation means or screws 9. On the outer circumference between inclined clamping surfaces 10 of the clamping elements 7, 8, there is arranged a tightening element 1.1. The tightening element 11 is made preferably of spring steel and has a slot 12. For purposes of connecting the attachment 1 in the opening 2 it is merely necessary to press the clamping elements 7 and 8. by means of the screws 9 against each other. To this end, access openings 13 for corresponding tools are provided at the attachment 1, so that the tightening element 11 located between the clamping surfaces 10 can be widened and can frictionally engage the wall of the opening 2.

The extension 6 may also serve for connecting of nonillustrated installation devices in the interior of the outlet.

FIG. 3 shows an outlet which is formed by a tubular connecting piece 16 connected to the cover 15 for the passage, from which connecting piece 16 the stopper is removed during the casting of the concrete or flooring material 3. Inserted into connecting piece 16 is a cylindrical mounting 17 which by means of the bent portion 18 is held to the lower edge of the clamping surface 10 of a clamping element 7. The clamping element 7 cooperates for connecting the mounting 17 in the tubular section 16 in the same manner with the clamping element 8 and a tightening element 11 as has been described in connection with the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2. After the upper edge of the mounting 17 has been aligned so that it is flush with the surface of the concrete or the flooring material, it is merely necessary for its connection in the connecting member 16 to press the clamping elements 7 and 8 by means of screws 9 against the tightening element 11. The connection in aligned position is fastened by the fact that the tightening element 11 rests by means of an arched or convex surface 14 against the wall of the connecting member 16. Thereupon the floor space 19 between the concrete or the flooring material 3 and the mounting 17 is filled with a pourable mass or substance. The outlet illustrated in FIG. 3 may within the scope of the present invention already be inserted into the section 16 and aligned prior to the pouring of the concrete or flooring material instead of the customary stopper. In this instance it is merely necessary that the mounting 17 is closed by a closure element 20 in order to prevent the floating concrete or flooring material from entering the outlet and the underfloor passage.

For purposes of connecting non-illustrated installing devices, the mounting 17 or one of the clamping elements 7 and 8 may be provided with extensions pointing into the interior of the outlet. Similarly, the upper edge of the mounting 17 may form a support for a cover. It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is, by no means, limited to the particular embodiments shown in the drawings and described above. Thus, the clamping elements instead of being of annular form may also be designed as polygons corresponding to the cross section of the tubular section or hole. In this connection, the tightening element is preferably composed of a plurality of sections which by means of an elastic thread or rubber band are non-detachably pressed against the clamping surfaces of the clamping elements.

What 1 claim is:

l. A hollow body for insertion into an outlet opening for under-floor and under-plaster installations formed in hardened material, said hollow body including: a first clamping element and a second clamping element having coaxial central openings, said elements having peripheral inclined surfaces facing each other and converging inwardly toward their axis and adapted to be pressed toward each other, a split tightening element of less diameter than said outlet opening arranged between said first and second clamping elements and having inclined surfaces complementary to and engaging said first inclined surfaces and expandable outwardly of said first and second clamping elements to engage the inner wall of said outlet opening, flanges on the inner peripheries of said elements, and means operatively connected to said flanges on said clamping elements and spaced circumferentially and operable to move said clamping elements toward each other to engage said first inclined surfaces with the inclined surfaces on said tightening element and thereby press said clamping elements to expand said tightening element into frictional engagement with the inner wall of said outlet, and a mounting element on said hollow body to extend across said outlet, inward extensions on the flange of said clamping element farthest from said mounting element, and fasteners connecting said mounting element to said extensions. 

1. A hollow body for insertion into an outlet opening for underfloor and under-plaster installations formed in hardened material, said hollow body including: a first clamping element and a second clamping element having coaxial central openings, said elements having peripheral inclined surfaces facing each other and converging inwardly toward their axis and adapted to be pressed toward each other, a split tightening element of less diameter than said outlet opening arranged between said first and second clamping elements and having inclined surfaces complementary to and engaging said first inclined surfaces and expandable outwardly of said first and second clamping elements to engage the inner wall of said outlet opening, flanges on the inner peripheries of said elements, and means operatively connected to said flanges on said clamping elements and spaced circumferentially and operable to move said clamping elements toward each other to engage said first inclined surfaces with the inclined surfaces on said tightening element and thereby press said clamping elements to expand said tightening element into frictional engagement with the inner wall of said outlet, and a mounting element on said hollow body to extend across said outlet, inward extensions on the flange of said clamping element farthest from said mounting element, and fasteners connecting said mounting element to said extensions. 